Tear gas gun



June 3, 1952 H. H. HoLRoYD 2,599,177

TEAR GASGUN Filed May 19, 1950 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented June 3, 1952 nUNITED Ars TEAR GAS GUN Harry H. Holroyd, Camden, NJ. Application May19, 1950, Serial No. 162,875l

1 Claim. I'

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in tear gas handprojectors, or as they are often called, tear gas guns.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a tear gas gunwhich is substantially rectangular in shape and relatively small insize, so that the same may easily be carried in a coat or trouserspocket, or in a womans handbag or pocketbook.

Still another object of the invention is to provide atear gas gun ortear gas hand projector that is provided with a removable square barrel,in which is to be placed a tear gas shell, the purpose of having asquare barrel being that should an ordinary cartridge, that is, acartridge having a bullet therein or a shot gun shell, otherwise knownas live ammunition, be fired in this gun, the casing of the cartridge orthe paper shell not being tightly confined laterally will split and thebullet or pellets will fall from the muzzle rather than be projectedwith the ordinary muzzle velocity.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a relatively lightand relatively small tear gas gun that is operated by a thumb piece onthe top surface of the gun, and wherein the cooking of the hammer andthe firing are practically simultaneous, so that the hammer can not beleft cocked in the ordinary sense of the word, and thus not likely to bered accidentally.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a tear gas gunwherein the casing may be molded or die-cast with one side face open andthen a small side plate tted to the casing. Furthermore, there aresimply two springs and relatively few parts, thus making it a relativelyinexpensive article to manufacture.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a relatively smalltear gas gun that is easily held in the palm of the hand and can befired by simply pulling back the thumb-piece.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnew and novel structures and combination of parts, as will behereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim.

Referring now to the drawings, showing a preferred embodiment,

Fig l is a side elevation with the side plate removed, the dotted linesshowing the rearward movement of the hammer and its associate parts,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view similarto Fig. 1, but showing the gunbefore loading,

Fig. 3 is a vertical, sectional view taken. on line 3 3 of Fig. ,1,

Fig. 4 is a horizontal, sectional View taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 5 is a horizontal, sectional view taken on line 5--5 of Fig. 1,

` Fig; 6 is a vertical, sectional view taken on line 5--6 of Fig. 1',and

Fig. 7 is a perspective of the removable square barrel and the shell orcartridge partly inserted. Referring now more particularly to theseveral views, and to Fig. 1 for the moment, there is shown the casing Iwhich in the size of gun illustrated is substantially three-quarters ofan inch in thickness and substantially four inches in length.

In the upper forward part of the casing I there is cast thelongitudinally extending chamber 2 and the open face 3. The wall il,forming the rear of the chamber 2, has the bore 5 registering with thechamber 2 and registering with a small extension chamber 6 formed in thefront of a large rear chamber I which extends substantially the heightof the casing I, as viewed in Fig. 1Q l In this bore 5 may be seenfitted a bronze bushing 8 which extends from the chamber 2 and into theextension chamber 6 of the chamber 1 just mentioned.

The chamber 2 is open at its forwardend as at 9 so that the cocking boltI0 may be inserted through the forward end of the chamber 2 and extendrearwardly through the bushing 8 into the chamber 'I, as will bedescribed shortly.

Also, about this bolt Imayvbe seen the helical spring Il which bears atits rear against the aforementioned wall 4 of the chamber 2 and againsta vertically extending pin I2 that extends through the bolt lo andupwardly through a slot I3 in the upper surface of the casing I. On thetop of this pin I2 is a small knurl thumb-piece I4 which issemi-circular in cross-section. j

Thus, the bolt' I0 due to the action of the spring Il will normally beheld in its advanced or full line position, as shown in Fig. 1. 'I'herear end of the bolt Ill is bifurcated or slotted as shown at I 5 and inthe slot I5 is mounted a small pivotal dog I6, held in position by thecross-pin I'I. (See Fig. 2.)

The dog I5 tapers along its rear face and tapers upwardly along itsbottom edge to form the rather sharp point 20, Where the rear wall IB-,and under-wall I9'meet. The dog I5 is pinned as at I1 near the rearend of the slot I5 so that vit ycan not swing forwardly farther than theposition shown in Fig. 1; but can tip upwardly and rearwardly, asconsidered from the point 20, so that when riding back over'the .hammer-22 (as will be mentioned shortly) it can clear the same, and also pivotupwardly when the hammer 22 is forced rearwardly for its cockingposition.

Now, still glancing at Figs. 1 and 2, it is to be noticed that the dogor latch I6 has an upper extending front face l6a that is positioneddirectly above the pin l1, and this forward edge or front face Iaimpinges against a wall 15b in the front ofth''lclail Twhenftl'fegboltfijls in Kits forward-most position. Amso, it will banud inFig. 1 that there is a tapered wall 2l directly beneath the dog I6.Thus, the pull forward on the bolt I0 by the spring I l will cause the dogl with its upper face Ilial to impinge againstth wall 16h and forcethe lower end 20 ofthe dog- I'S to be in its normal, operative position,as shown in Fig. 1, so that it will always 1de -in"position"to impingeagainst the forward face 22 of the ham: mer 22 after the hammer-22 isforced rearwardly to apocking-position by 'the insertion of a shell"rothjefaf dftheeafssian gesamter at the casing i held in place byscrews 38', the percussion cap 39 bearing against the firing pin 34 willforce the hammer 22 to its cocked position, that is, directly in back ofthe pivotal dog I6, so that when the bolt lil is pulled rearwardly, itwill force the hammer 22 back to the dotted line position in Fig. l,preliminarily to being released to strike the firing pin 34 and explodethe shell 31.

@f lcourse, =the-length^of"the rirrgjp'in 34 is ycritical, as'theassembly '-nt `be that when the gun is loaded, that is, there is a shell31 in "the removable barrel 32 and the front plate 38 in position, thehammer 22 is in an operable ps'ton.

MAfs Ihaveshown in Figs. 1 and 2, the rectangularcasing I may beundercut as at 40 if desired, so that itr'f'aly-begripped better whenthe gun is held xin the palm of the hand.

Operation of tfhe tear gas gun Afirst stepistt') l` e stood th t 'frissegunsmayam'aaain mirar-ent Fromme fre produced' a tear gas "'gin thatparts and is quickly assembled; and the one cocking bolt cocks thehammer and also permits the same to be fired on the one rearwardmovement of the cocking bolt.

Lastly, it is impossible to use the gun as a lethal weapon, as any liveammunition red in this gun will, due to the square chamber, cause thecasing of the live ammunition to split and thus render the liveammunition ineective.

Many slight changes might be made Without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, whaty I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

In a tear gas gun, a relatively small casing, a firing pin andspring-actuated hammer cooperating therewith, a removable barrel havinga square bore, fitting wholly within the casing, the said barrel adaptedto have a, tear gas shell inserted in its breech when said barrel iswithout said casing; means for holding the barrel in position; aspring-pressed, thumb-operated bolt, having a pivotal latch at its rear,the latch normally overlying the upper edge of the hammer; the insertionof the barrel and its tear gas shell within the casing forcing thehammer from beneath the 6 latch; a stop in the casing cooperating withthe upper end of the pivotal latch, so that the springpressed boltpulling the latch against the stop will cause said latch to extend belowthe upper edge of the hammer when the hammer is forced from beneath thelatch, whereby a rearward movement of the thumb-operated bolt will cockand release the hammer to actuate the ring pin.

` HARRY H. HOLROYD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 455,279 Cunningham June 30, 1891788,866 Webber May 2, 1905 1,826,562 Minto Oct. 6, 1931 1,878,492 GossSept. 20, 1932 2,418,906 Sampson et al. Apr. 15, 1947 2,423,448 HaightJuly 8. 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 418 Great Britain 17184,192 Great Britain 1891

